A common step in painting and other coating operations is to place a covering over an area not to be painted, while leaving uncovered the area to be painted. A wide variety of stencils, masks, guards, shields, guides, etc., have been disclosed for such use. For example, Ivankovich, U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,654, issued Mar. 31, 1981, discloses a paint guard for protecting a baseboard from dripping paint as the wall is painted. Askeland, U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,458, issued Oct. 15, 1991, discloses a painting shield which prevents paint from dropping on the floor between door jambs.
Lines are routinely painted on parking lots, warehouse floors, etc., to indicate traffic and storage patterns. Curbs and outside corners are also routinely painted to contrast them with their surroundings and thereby reduce the chances of accidental collisions. Such areas are often painted using masking tape. However, applying and then removing the tape is a time-consuming operation and the tape cannot, of course, be reused. A second method of painting such areas is to draw lines, e.g., with a chalk line, and then simply try to paint within the lines. The precision of the line is inversely proportional to the time spent. Accordingly, it would desirable to have a reusable paint guide which could be used in such situations to quickly and accurately paint the desired areas.